Corporate and legal

Clearwire launches Rover pay-as-you-go 4G service

Clearwire announced a new pay-as-you-go brand for its 4G wireless service on Monday.

The new brand is targeting 18- to 24-year-olds who are recently out of college, urban, and looking to stay connected. The service will not require a contract, and customers can sign up for unlimited data usage for just $5 per day, $20 per week, or $50 a month.

The Rover Puck will offer download speeds of 3Mbps to 6Mbps. The Puck is available for $150. And the Rover Stick is $100 and will work on MacBooks using Mac OS X, as well as Netbooks and laptops using … Read more

3M to buy biometrics firm Cogent for $943 million

3M has signed a deal to acquire biometric security firm Cogent Systems for $943 million, the companies announced Monday.

According to 3M, it will pay $10.50 per share for Cogent, representing an 18 percent premium over the stock price at market close Friday. 3M will purchase all shares of Cogent "within 10 business days," according to the agreement.

Pasadena, Calif.-based Cogent sells finger, palm, iris, and face biometric systems to governments, law enforcement, and businesses.

The decision of 3M--a massive conglomerate--to acquire Cogent is based on its view that the biometrics market is booming. Cogent is … Read more

RIM sidesteps BlackBerry ban in India

Research In Motion, the maker of the popular BlackBerry smartphone, has averted yet another ban of its e-mail and messaging service, according to news reports Monday.

The Indian government said it will not shut down the service for at least another 60 days as it evaluates proposals RIM has offered that would allow the government to monitor wireless subscribers' communications.

Indian officials said earlier this month that the company had until the end of August to come up with a solution that would allow them to monitor e-mails and other electronic messages from BlackBerry users in the country.

One of … Read more

Will tech always be a boys 'n' toys club?

I hear wailing, screeching, and the sound of a Zimmer frame scratching on an old wooden floor.

I hear the downhearted and downtrodden banging hard on the door of the inner temple, begging to be invited inside. I hear the dark accusations of sexism, ageism and even, it seems, dumb-and-dumberism echoing around the halls of the Web.

Yes, it is time to examine tech's navel and wonder why it is that navel is smooth, male, and full of Special K and croissant crumbs.

You see, this week, important sectors of society have been expressing their pain at being shut … Read more

USA Today gets makeover for mobile world

USA Today, the nation's second largest newspaper, announced this week a major restructuring effort designed to address a drop in advertising and circulation and bring it up to speed in today's new world of smartphones and tablets.

In a slide show presented to employees on Thursday, the once-innovative news-gathering organization said it would "focus less on print...and more on producing content for all platforms," the Associated Press reported.

"We have to go where the audience is," USA Today Editor John Hillkirk told the AP. "If people are hitting the iPad like crazy, … Read more

DOJ seeking more info on Google-ITA deal

Google's proposed acquisition of flight information software company ITA isn't going to close quite as quickly as the search giant had hoped. Seems the Department of Justice isn't yet comfortable signing off on it and has sent Google a second request for information. That's going to hold things up for a while, though the company says it's "confident that the DOJ will conclude that online travel will remain competitive after this acquisition closes."

Another ISP bucks 'Hurt Locker' subpoenas

An Internet service provider based in South Dakota is refusing to turn over information belonging to 143 customers accused of illegally sharing the Oscar-winning film, "The Hurt Locker."

In federal court on Monday, Midcontinent Communications filed a motion to quash a subpoena received from Voltage Pictures, the film's producers, who allege some of the ISP's customers used peer-to-peer services to pilfer unauthorized copies of its movie. Voltage seeks to require Midcontinent to identify those customers as well as turn over their home addresses, phone numbers, and other data.

Midcontinent's lawyers told the court that the … Read more

Paul Allen sues Apple, Google over patents

Updated 12:09 p.m. PDT with additional information and background and at 12:42 p.m. PDT with comment from the plaintiffs.

Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen fired a patent shot across the bow of several prominent technology companies Friday, suing Apple, Google, Facebook, Yahoo, and others over patent claims.

Allen's firm Interval Licensing filed a lawsuit in federal court alleging that the above companies, as well as AOL, eBay, Netflix, Office Depot, OfficeMax, and Staples, are violating patents he received for several Internet technologies while leading Interval Research, now out of business. The case was filed in U.… Read more

Meet Novell's new best friend: VMware

Novell has a new best friend when it comes to Suse Linux distribution: VMware.

If you recall, Novell's former best friend for Suse Linux was Microsoft. Microsoft and Novell have a partnership where the two parties had certificates that indemnified Suse users from any intellectual-property liability. In addition, Microsoft officially recommended Suse Linux Enterprise for hybrid Windows/Linux shops.

Now that the sales pop from the Novell-Microsoft partnership has played out, Suse Linux growth has stagnated. In Novell's fiscal third-quarter report, released Thursday, the company said Linux platform product revenue was $36 million, down 7 percent from a … Read more